Aurora tourist information

Do not miss the following attractions, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Historic Lower Downtown/LoDo, Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre and Six Flags Elitch Gardens - Denver.

Aurora is Colorado's third-largest city. The municipality is split between Arapahoe and Adams County, with a small portion lying in Douglas County. The city and its western neighbor are the principal cities of the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area. As of the 2000 Census, the city population was 276,900. The latest Census estimates place the city's population at 291,843, making it the 61st-largest in the United States. The city will soon reach the milestone of 300,000 residents.

Do not miss the following attractions, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Historic Lower Downtown/LoDo, Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre and Six Flags Elitch Gardens - Denver.

In 1891, Donald Fletcher founded a town on the plains east of Denver and named it after himself. The real estate tycoon ran out two years later, leaving the new residents with bond payments for non-existent water. The town was renamed Aurora (Latin for dawn) in 1907, and remained a small community until after World War II. Postwar suburban development transformed the town into what became the fastest growing city in the United States during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Aurora straddles Interstate 70, Interstate 225 and the E-470 beltway. The Regional Transportation District's light rail transit system will be extended to serve the southwestern edge of Aurora by the end of 2006. An extension along I-225 through the city is planned to connect with a commuter rail line between downtown Denver and Denver International Airport (DIA), both scheduled for completion by 2015. Much of Aurora is more convenient to DIA than Denver itself. This proximity is a factor in the expected growth of the E-470 corridor directly south of DIA, projected to eventually accommodate 250,000 additional Aurora residents.

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